Monday, July 02, 2007

Les Miles Is Talking All Kinds of Smack

Louisiana State coach Les Miles, whose team is a popular pick to play in this season's BCS title game opposite USC, is calling into question the strength of the Pacific 10 Conference, suggesting the Trojans should be a cinch to make it to the Jan. 7 game in New Orleans because of a suspect league schedule.

"I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel," Miles said. "They’re going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford — some real juggernauts — and they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title [game].

"I would like that path for us. I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition."

Miles was just getting started.

"I can tell you that I would like nothing better than to play USC for the title," he said.

Miles didn't limit his smack to the Pac-10 and USC. He also took this shot at the Big 12:

"The Big 12 is a conference that might have two really pretty good teams, maybe four. I think the Pac-10 may have one or two really good ones. The ACC certainly, arguably, has some quality teams.

"I don't think there's any conference out there that has as many quality teams as ours."

Miles, who played and coached at Michigan and is voter in the USA Today poll, also said he voted Florida over Michigan last season after the Gators defeated Arkansas in the SEC title game, helping to put Florida in the title game over the Wolverines. He talked with several friends in Michigan afterward.

"Guys who were at my wedding, college roommates, said, 'What the heck are you doing?' You had to do what was right. I really feel like I’d stand by that vote every time."

Miles also said that if there were an eight-team playoff to decide the national champion, "There'd probably be at least four SEC teams in the top eight."

Miles, a native of Elyria, Ohio, was asked if it's a matter of upbringing to hold the position that "something must be done about USC," the most frequent Big Ten opponent in the Rose Bowl.

"Should something be done about SC?" Yeah. It might just have to be the system, first, though."

38 comments:

Miles can friggin cram it. He's still all pissy about losing McKnight. Play it on the field buddy.

Also, I'm not a USC fan, but an Oregon (and thus Pac-10) fan. The Pac-10 has been very consistent over the past few years, and they are a strong conference. A lot of their teams have been showing improvement. To even compare it to the ACC, Big 10, or Big 12 is an absolute joke.

Yeah, the SEC is the best conference, or at least that's how it seems now, but Pac-10 is second. Miles needs to not get his head out of his ass and stop worrying about USC and worry about his own damn team.

Thank goodness the SEC is stacked 1-12 with great teams like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vanderbilt, otherwise Les would really sound stupid. And I totally sympathize with LSU going through that meat grinder of a non-conference schedule against the likes of Middle Tennessee, Tulane and LA Tech.

The SEC west divion champ was absolutely abused by SC the last two years and the team hung a donut on Auburn at Jordan-Hare. I don't think Pete Carroll has much to apologize for against the SEC.

wow. wow. you guys are idiots. to the first guy, there is NO way, NO WAY, the pac-10 is the second-best conference. i am an lsu and ucla fan, but i know that the big-10, big-12, ACC, and you could even argue the big east are all better. the pac-10 has 1 elite team, and then every year they have had 1 or 2 good/decent teams. two years ago it was ucla, last year it was cal/oregon state. now look at every other conference.

big-10 has michigan and ohio state as elite teams, and you could even argue wisconsin. then you have penn state which is a good team.

acc has virginia tech (i'll admit it was a very down year for the acc last year), florida state which is good, BC who is always good, clemson is consistently good (and underachieves), and GA-tech has been good too.

the big 12 has texas and oklahoma as elite teams, then texas a&m, texas tech, nebraska, and missouri are decent teams.

the big east has two elite teams-louisville and west virginia, and rutgers is coming up, as is south florida.

and to the guy who said this:Thank goodness the SEC is stacked 1-12 with great teams like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vanderbilt" you are an idiot. first of all, the other 8 teams are all good bordering on elite teams. and you can't even include kentucky in that group anymore, they went 8-4 and beat clemson in their bowl game. but the other EIGHT ELITE TEAMS-alabama, arkansas, LSU, florida, georgia, tennessee, south carolina, and auburn. and every team in the sec is playing at least 4 of these teams every year. who cares about their non-conference schedule? its funny how USC fans brag about playing a merely decent nebraska team, a very overrated california team, and inconsistent ucla and oregon teams. OREGON GOT KILLED BY BYU! A MOUNTAIN WEST TEAM! and on the other side, LSU thinks they have an easy schedule because they get florida, auburn, arkansas, virginia tech, and south carolina at home. and speaking of that, think of how much tougher road games are in the SEC. you have LSU, florida, tennessee, auburn, alabama, georgia. all of these stadiums are ridiculously tough. the PAC-10 doesn't have a single stadium to compare with it. and everyone knows that LSU was the most talented team in the country, and they should've been the real west champs. they self-destructed against florida, and the refs screwed them at auburn. but i can't wait till LSU beats the crap out of you guys in this year's National Championship

actually what is hilarious is a team talking mess that can't even keep its best recruits in state. But I guess LSU is LOADED at running back!

I don't ever hear anyone complaining about their schedule other than folks of the SEC. The SEC is the best conference in the land. There I said it. Now shut your trap and quit with the excuses come January. But you won't you will just whine like little babies about your schedule and how tough your conference is. Boo Hoo. Try and be like SC, play all comers, and let the chips fall where they may.

In 2008 when SC is playing Ohio State, LSU will still be playing juggernaut Troy State.

I guess that will give you guys more to complain about come January. The next time you see Pete Carroll crying about his schedule or his conference...oh wait, he doesn't do that.

I think Les Miles still has a raging, mega-huge boner after beating Notre Dame in January. By the way, thats a feat that USC accomplishes every year along with Michigan. It must have done something for his confidence for him to call out the most dominant program over the past 5 years. I also believe that Miles is upset over the fact that Pete Carroll stole Joe McKnight and had sex with Mile's wife as well. This guy is high as shit, USC will destroy LSU with the ridiculously deep defense that we field this year.

You can sling words back and forth about recruiting and so on, but it boils down to this: look at the elite teams on the schedules. Both schools play a number of mediocre teams - who freaking cares? But look at how many truly powerful teams are on LSU's schedule vs USC's schedule. LSU plays Va Tech, Florida, and Auburn. I'm not seeing anyone on USC's schedule that, year in and year out, is that caliber a program. Maybe one out of Cal, UCLA or Oregon St. will be a top 10 team this year, but it's almost guaranteed that the other two will end up being mediocre. That's the problem - the PAC-10 is loaded with good but not great teams, but not elite teams. The SEC obviously has some medicore teams, but 5-6 elite level programs that invariably produce 3-4 elite teams in a given year.

The Big East = B-List BCSA "grandfathered" BCS Automatic bid legitimized by the liberal drive-by left wing sports media (ESPN). The big east bcs bid should go to Troy University. Check out their schedule, tougher than any B-List BCS Conference team. Hoover High School could win the Big East.

I think this is really a straw-man argument, everyone knows the SEC is way better than everyone, at least for now. Even the worst teams in the SEC are better than the mediocre teams in the other "power" conferences, just put Vandy or Kentucky or Miss. State in the Pac-10 or and watch them as they get second place and rough up everyone but USC. That being said Les Miles is just crying because he knows he's winning on borrowed time from Nick Saban's recruits and the clock is aready ticking on him in Baton Rouge. Just to finish this off properly I will remind you that the Florida Gators said last year after the Championship Game that it was no big deal since they played all those SEC teams last year especially on the road, that The Ohio State University was about the fourth or fifth best team they played last year....and they won 41-14.

Christ on a pogo stick. I'd think that the only objective evidence of inter-conference strengths (you know, out-of-conference games) would maybe suggest to people that the likes of Vandy, Kentucky, and Miss State probably would not take #2 in the Pac-10, or anything higher than the MAC for that matter. For God's sakes. I guess that moonshine is strong down south.

to the ass who said that the big east is a b list bcs conference is full of shit. wvu went into atlanta and beat georgia in a sugar bowl home game who beat those same lsu tigers for the sec title weeks earlier. last year louisville dominated a wake forest team that was very underrated. i would have loved to see lsu go against louisville last year. anyway the big east may not be as strong as these other conferences but the elite teams in the big east are just as good as any in the country.

here's the thing- other school's having lame schedules sucks for SEC teams but if you're truly good, you play through it.

USC (those california fags) on the other hand, seems to be in title contention EVERY YEAR. remember 2003? LSU beat OU to win the nat'l title game fair and square. so thats it right?

Wrong. USC bitched, moaned, and complained into a share of the title.

And frankly, to hell with joe mcknight. we dont need him.

The bottom line is, USC doesn't play anybody worth a damn other than Cal UCLA and maybe Oregon. And the best of those teams is the equivalent of maybe an alabama or an auburn, who LSU plays every week.

FACE IT FAGS, NO MATTER WHERE YOU'RE FROM THE SEC IS JUST PLAIN BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE!

The B-List BCS Confenece has one victory to claim. WVU upset UGA. Big woo. UGA plays big after big game each weekend. WVU plays the OVC, MAC and sunbelt level schedule. The Sugar Bowl was WVU Super Bowl. Instead of playing a Big Boy Schedule and exploiting that win, WVU continues to play down.

When the B-List plays Big Boys wach week then we can talk. I respect Troy more than WVU or UL.

That auto BCS Bowl bid should be taken away from that candy conference

No one can argue that the SEC makes other conferences look like start up leagues. Period. Now with that said...USC has a great team. They go out and play who they play and they win...now if they played an SEC schedule would they have been so dominant the last few years? I doubt it...very seriously. They do good to survive against Oregon every year much less doing battle with LSU, Auburn, Tennesse, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, or Alabama on the road week in and week out.

With that said now that I've blew my SEC horn let me say I am hoping to see the Alabama Crimson Tide with Coach Nick Saban serve a big 'ol fashioned upset whooping on LSU down in T-Town this Fall.

Let's be honest here. USC has reigned over the PAC-10 for years. No one has challenged yet. Every once in a while a rival pulls off an upset ('03 Cal, '06 UCLA), but no one every really dominates the league year after year like they do. Cal is currently the closest thing to consistancy in the league, and that is only a 4 year run. Oregon was lucky to get to a bowl 3 years ago. And the year that Arizona State looked good, they self destructed after blowing a 4th quarter lead against USC. I dare you to find one team in the PAC-10 that year after year you seriously think will beat USC rather than you just hope that they might.

On the other hand in the SEC, even teams like Kentucky (no seriously) can pull off upsets and win bowl games (sorry...true). Florida destroyed Ohio State while barely escaping from the likes of South Carolina and lost to Auburn. Had Florida not injured McFaddin in the first quarter, Arakansas might have done more damage or even won. (PS-McFaddin was injured (from a barfight I think) in the game against USC but was recovered in time for Auburn and the rest of the SEC until aforementioned Q1 of SEC Championship game.)

If you're talking about the overall strength of an in-conference schedule, why is it relevant which teams are quality challengers? If it's Oregon, Oregon State, Cal and UCLA one year, and Washington, Washington State, Stanford and ASU the next year, is that inherently an easier schedule than if the challengers are Oregon, Oregon State, Cal and UCLA every year?

Of course not. The names attached to the football teams don't matter. The quality of football they play that season (nay, that Saturday) is what affects the strength of a schedule. Nothing more and nothing less.

I don't claim that the Pac-10 or the SEC necessarily like either of these models, but the "no other consistently dominant teams" argument is a complete non-sequitur.

I'll say this, in most seasons throughout the past 30 years, you could make the argument that Kentucky is a bottom-tier SEC team.

However, things are changing, they are coming off a bowl win vs Clemson and returned every key player.

Andre Woodson might be the best quarterback in the SEC next year and has plenty of weapons to throw to. Jacob Tamme is one of the top tight ends in the NCAA as is Keenan Burton at wide-out and he has other guys with sub 4.40 40 times running with him.

Rich Brooks has got alot of flack for his first few years at Kentucky. What people don't realize is that he is the only coach in the SEC who has won the Rose Bowl and made Oregon into a PAC 10 champion in his tenure there.

The SEC east has 5 teams that will probably make bowls, 6 if Vandy steps up. The West has Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, and Bama who will all be loaded next season...And as an above poster said, even Ole Miss and Miss State have the capability to make an unexpected run.

The problem with the PAC, in my opinion, is that it's limited to 10 teams and by sheer numbers limits the amount of good teams in the conference. It also prevents a PAC 10 championship game which makes the PAC champion play 1 less game against a quality team that a team in the SEC, Big 12, or ACC would play.

Joey said:"I think Les Miles still has a raging, mega-huge boner after beating Notre Dame in January. By the way, thats a feat that USC accomplishes every year along with Michigan."

Ask any LSU student/player/coach/fan and they'll tell you it was lame that the Tigers had to play over-rated 11th ranked Notre Dame. The Irish should not have been in a BCS bowl. No one was surprised that LSU beat the crap out of Notre Dame and that JaMarcus made Brady Quinn look like a joke.

Beating Notre Dame every year is nothing to brag about. They're just an inflated media phenomenon, a trait they share with USC.

You mean they played a 6-7 team, LSU, Auburn, and a Georgia team that lost to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, while almost losing to a two-win Colorado? Wow, what an impressive stretch.

How about USC going straight against #21 Oregon, #17 Cal, #6 Notre Dame, and UCLA all in consecutive weeks? With such a brutal schedule, no wonder they lost focus and overlooked UCLA. "

you are an idiot. lets look at florida's month first. they played alabama, who granted wasn't super good, but was still talented. then they played an auburn team that FINISHED #9 (i would say what rank they finish at is a bigger deal than what they are at when they play USC). they played an LSU team that FINISHED #3, and they played a Georgia team that beat Va-Tech, crushed Auburn, played the National Champions to a 7 point loss, and FINISHED #23 in the final AP Poll.

now look at usc's month. they played an Oregon team that, oh, wait, didn't FINISH ranked in any poll, and didn't even receive any VOTES in the AP and USA Today Polls. next was California, who was pretty good and finished #14, but they also lost to Arizona, instead of almost losing which you seem to think is a big deal. then you brought up notre dame. that just showed how unbelievably stupid you are. YOU TRIED TO ARGUE THAT PLAYING NOTRE DAME AT HOME IS TOUGH! this is a notre dame team that finished #17 in AP and #19 in USA-Today polls. they beat ONE, count them, ONE team that FINISHED the season ranked. that was penn state, that finished #24 in AP and #25 in USA-Today polls. and lastly, a UCLA team that FINISHED 7-6, got killed by Florida State (another team that FINISHED 7-6),and didn't even FINISH the season ranked.

yeah you are definitely an idiot. you have to use the FINAL rankings to determine how good a team is, just look at Notre Dame, who i believe started the season ranked #2. maybe next time you should think before typing.

Hay you guys this will probably be my first and last comment, but anyway I have to defend my ACC. I'm a huge FSU fan, and I feel like the ACC will be back in full effect this year. I know we didn't do that great last year in the bowl games especially but for the SEC being the best conference the ACC seems to be the only conference (other than last year) who constantly gives them hell. Also I think with the addition of Miami and others they will be straight. And if Miami and Florida State get back on track than the rest of the country better hope they beat the crap out of each other, because no college over the last 18 years produced more valuable NFL talent than Miami and Florida State remember the 2001 Miami team produced such athletes as Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, Andrea Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Clinton Portis, Johnathan Vilma, Willis Mcgahee, Frank Gore, Kellen Winslow Jr., and some other people I can't recall. But name another team who put out that kind of talent in one year............ No one. And Florida State is a defensive coaches dream year in and year out. Clemson has shown signs of catching up along with Maryland, and BC and VT if they can get a good quaterback. yes the SEC is the best conference, but once a upon a time Florida State alone had people saying the same about the ACC, and now the ACC has the best chance top to bottom to unseat the SEC, and watch out for N. Carolina and the Butch Davis recruiting machine. And USC almost always plays a super overrated team and looks like gods until the end season polls when your asking yourselves where did those teams go. Remember that 2005 team and how they were the best ever (ESPN propaganda) and then Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns beat them.Excuse me Vince Young beat, Reggie Bush, Matt Lienhart, Dwayne Jarrett, Lendale White, Steve Smith, and there entire D. Yeah thats some squad they put together year in and year out

face it...LSU has some kind of (ahem!) envy. Must be the Southern humidity. I AM a USC fan, and LSU wouldn't have stood a chance in '03, '04, '05 and '06 against the Trojans. (Ask Auburn, Arkansas, et al.) LSU will crack and fold this year anyway, so all this hype about USC-LSU will unfortunately not happen (although I would love to see a 45-10 beatdown of the Tigers at the hand of the Trojans....wouldn't it be ironic to see USC get their THRID national championship in FIVE years against a team that shouldn't even have ONE?!). I will make a blanket generality and propose that all LSU fans (or at least bloggers) are freakin' idiots. Take it to the bank.

Why is everyone saying that the SEC is stacked? Year in and year out, they have some strong teams (LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Fla - but that's it) and some weak-ass teams (Vandy, Ole Miss, Miss St., etc.). And then they have teams that pogo-stick up-and-down every season (Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Bama, etc.). Top to bottom, the SEC is just like every other conference - it's nothing special. The top 4 of the PAC-10 and the SEC would finish 2-2 every year if they had a post-season tourney (1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, etc.). Last year's match ups would be:USC v. FLA (Pac-10 win)Cal v. LSU (SEC win)OreSt. v. ARK (Pac-10 win)UCLA v. Auburn (SEC win)So, get off your high horses you SEC rednecks and recognize that your conference is just like all of the others in two ways (1) it has some elites but lots of dogs and (2) your elites get beat by USC early and often.

All I know is in two games SC put up a combined 120 points against Arkansas, while also taking their two best players outside of McFadden. Think about that 70 points in LA and 50 more in Arkansas. Neither game was ever close. Auburn is still waitng to score and Va Tech (I know and ACC school) hasn't been clamoring for a rematch. SC plays EVERYONE. Their out of conference schedule has been tops for the last 4 years. You conference is like family being that you cna't pick em. Those that they can pick they beat, usually decisively. The SEC is a great conference probably the best in the nation but not a team in it could beat any SC team from 2002 on, on a neutral field. If you know of one show me. Fly down to LA, look me up, and show my ass.

obviously, the SEC is the hardest conference to play in, but that doesn't mean that any of those "elite" programs can beat USC. the Pac-10 is actually very underrated and playing in that conference is harder than you think. regardless, les miles should shut up and leave the talk on the field. pete carroll never complains, and i dont think he cares what les miles says. USC is hands down the best program in the country, and when USC spanks LSU this year, everyone will know it.

I love this line from another online article regarding Miles' dumb, drunken comments: "Anyway, the tough talk didn't end with USC or the Pac-10. The remainder of the rant was more or less "ur conference is teh suck, we r hawt, tackle football, boom. w00t."

HA HA...Miles sounds like a 12-year old internet kid. WE R TEH AWESOME! Give me a break. USC has consistently dominated OOC opponents ranked in the top 20. I'd say winning FOUR of the last five BCS bowl games has proven that. LSU played ND in their BCS appearance last season...please.

Joe McKnight looks like he's going to be very good. LSU fans should really be worried about losing talent to the Trojans from their own backyard...not what the Trojans are doing on the field. Booty has been a solid QB for the Trojans too. Like Stewart Mandel said, Miles is just setting up for the big letdown. He's already making excuses. OMG, IT'S SO UNFAIR WE PLAY IN TEH AWESOME SEC SO IF WE LOSE, IT'S NOT OUR FAULT.

First the liar that went to Alabama, now LESS Miles. LSU is tearing up a coaching trail.

Oh, BTW, I found it interesting that over the last 20 years, only TWO TIMES has a team made it through the Pac-10 schedule undefeated. Over that same period, FOUR SEC teams have went through the SEC schedule undefeated.

From John in Dallas: Les Miles' comments in regards to USC and schedules prompted me to do a little research:

USC's record over the last five years is 59-6 including an out of conference (OOC) record against BCS teams (including Notre Dame) of 16-2. LSU has gone 52-13 (7-3 OOC BCS), Auburn 50-14 (6-5 OOC BCS including two losses to USC) and Florida 45-18 (5-7 OOC BCS). How can we fairly compare the strength of a conference when they rarely play anyone from outside their conference affiliations and when they do, they post mediocre results at best. I guess I have been brainwashed to believe the SEC is a far superior conference and maybe from top-to-bottom it is, but how do we know for sure when it seems that all they are doing is padding their records with patsies OOC and playing competitive games in conference. Another interesting fact concerning USC and its scheduling: In the past five years, USC's winning percentage in conference is virtually the same as it is against OOC BCS teams (37-4 vs. 16-2). Would USC's record be as good if it was in the SEC, we can never know for sure, but my guess here is yes because it would be forced to dumb down their OOC schedules like the rest of the conference (no more home and homes with Nebraska, Ohio State and Notre Dame) and focus on the big conference games instead. Pete Carroll's record in big games at USC is pretty strong.

Imagine the record and number of National championships LSU would have if they played 8 High school calibur teams and 1 college calibur team (COUGH LIKE USC) then just had to show up for the National championship game?

USC, just like Notre Dame gets alot of the rep and rank based on what they did in the past...

Not what they do now or how they do it. If the folks looked sincerely at the quality of opponents, USC would be lucky to even be RANKED most years.

California is the lamest thing to occur to the US so pretty much anything that comes out of that place is fabricated or made of silicone so let them have their time and their attitude that they are actually good. Only asshats in California truly believe that wash.

The Bright side is, one day the crack will open and they will all wash away and we don't have to hear how uber USC is when in truth they have been overrated about 80% of their college football career.

SEC is the best conference period.

Notre Dame and Michigan both can tout the best All time winning percentage and most college football wins of all time.

USC has their 8 national titles... 5 easily of which could have gone elsewhere had the teams they played for them (or when they just got voted into them) played high school teams also.

And now after the 2007-2008 Seasson is done. Its been shown on the field as so many posters requested. Miles worried about his own team and it payed off. And Pete? Well. Peter obviously worried about himslef in that vain, LA way.